Nick Pearce and Mick Cleary

Leicester scrum-half Ben Youngs has mounted a spirited defence of England's passing game through the half-back axis following recent criticism of their distribution skills by Sir Clive Woodward. In a newspaper column, the 2003 World Cup-winning coach pinpointed the lack of crispness in moving the ball away as one of England's failings.

"Your 9-10-12 unit has to be able to pass the ball to a world-class standard," Woodward wrote. "It sounds obvious but England have had some players in the past few years who haven't met that requirement."

Youngs, who looks to have been beaten to the starting shirt by Harlequins' Danny Care, for Saturday's match against Fiji at Twickenham, believes that there is no residual weakness in his own passing game.

"Clive is a hugely respected icon of the game who has achieved so much. But he's not involved as closely in the game as he has been in the past and he only gets to see us play on TV and not up close," Youngs said. "There's room for improvement in all areas of my game - kicking, passing, decision-making - but I'm very confident and happy with my passing ability."

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Head coach Stuart Lancaster is set to cap another young England player following the decision last night (Tuesday) to retain 21-year-old Wasps forward Joe Launchbury in the 23-man squad to face Fiji. Launchbury has leapfrogged Saracens lock Mouritz Botha in the pecking order and is likely to take his place on the bench alongside another prospective debutant, prop Mako Vunipola. Leicester hooker Tom Youngs is also primed to win his first cap in the starting XV.

Gloucester No.8 Ben Morgan is one of 10 players returning to their clubs, indicating that Leicester's Thomas Waldrom will start. Among those also going back are Wasps' James Haskell, Northampton scrum-half Lee Dickson and Botha.

Gloucester wing Charlie Sharples is one of those retained, the beneficiary of the one-week suspension handed to Chris Ashton. Sharples will start against Fiji, winning his third cap. No wonder Ashton was in a frustrated mood earlier in the week when he looked across the Pennyhill Park training pitch and saw Sharples running free. He was wearing the No.14 England shirt. Ashton's shirt. Or it was until the Saracens wing got himself banned after accumulating three yellow cards. A slap on the wrist? Not if the man who comes in scores a hat-trick and throws even the most predictable-looking selection into doubt.

Sharples has pace, lots of it, and in the loose, ad-hoc style that is likely to be the pattern on Saturday, he could prosper. No one doubts that Ashton has plenty in the bank as far as England are concerned. With 15 tries in 26 Tests, he is far and away their leading try-scorer, albeit he has gone nine matches without touching down.

Ashton has been an ever-present in England colours since winning his first cap against France in Paris in March 2010, all bar that is the World Cup warm-up match against Wales 15 months ago in which Sharples came on to make his debut. The 23 year-old failed to make the World Cup cut. And now? Sharples can sniff an opening on the field and his senses are suitably receptive off field as well.

"Definitely, I've got to see this as an opportunity and not just see myself as a stop-gap," Sharples said. "Of course, Ashy's form for England has been great and the shirt has rightly been his. But this is my chance to put my hand up, to provide a bit of competition and put pressure on for one of those wing spots."

Lancaster has acknowledged that there is a shortage of top-class finisher in world rugby. England have no better than a middling try count to their name since he took over eight matches ago with a return of 12 tries in eight Tests. The first two of those, against Scotland and Italy, came from Charlie 'Chargedown' Hodgson. There has been a sense that England have lacked snap and pace and have not managed to bring their strike-runners into the game often enough. Certainly Ashton's drought would point to that.

"Tries are the product of all sorts of things," Lancaster said. "There are some finishers in the English game, and both Charlie and Ugo Monye can finish. But it's a definitely an area we want to get more of."

Meanwhile, RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie has cleared the way for Lions head coach Warren Gatland to make a formal inquiry about securing the services of Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell for next year's Lions tour to Australia.